After I visited Skybound Leisure to get my arms on Invincible VS forward of its June reveal, I emerged impressed by the technical proficiency and over-the-top motion the 3v3 fighter delivers inside a product that feels real to the supply materials. And it is smart, seeing as how the workforce is made up of writers, artists, and expertise concerned with the present and comedian, in addition to builders who beforehand labored on the Killer Intuition reboot. Because the roster continues to construct out, with the director of the World Protection Company, Cecil Stedman, this tag-team combating sport is seeking to be increasingly more of a dream undertaking for followers of the sequence like myself.
Although I did not get my arms on Cecil’s gameplay like I did with Invincible, Atom Eve, Bulletproof, and Thula again in Might, I used to be given an advance screening of a gameplay trailer. Cecil seems surprisingly technical, with a number of gadgets, teleportation, and even summoned ReAnimen combined into his gameplay fashion.
“It could have been very easy for us to only have him be a ‘Man within the Ear,’ however we needed to do one thing greater than that,” narrative director Michael Rogers says. “Cecil is a fan favourite of lots of people on the workforce, myself included, and the best way we figured it out was simply being ingenious. I had a wishlist of issues that I needed within the sport from a narrative perspective, and that was teleportation, the White Room, ReAnimen, and all of these issues have been issues that our fight designers already had on their mind.”
Cecil joins a roster that already contains Invincible, Omni-Man, Atom Eve, Bulletproof, Thula, Rex Splode, and Battle Beast. Should you’re a fan of Invincible, you will fairly shortly understand that Cecil is the primary character with out superpowers. “Should you have a look at it from a gameplay perspective, you may have all these totally different archetypes from grapplers to strikers to rush-down powerhouse characters that push you to corners, after which you may have mid- and long-range characters,” government producer Mike Willette says. “The idea of Cecil, what he does is he manipulates and he can keep on the surface. So, in his package, we have now a number of long-range weaponry, from his GDA tech, like his sonic mine, to the ReAnimen that he can name in, to the White Room, the orbital strike, the Flaxan weapons; he has all these items obtainable to him. So, for him, he is simply organising the battlefield. He is organising traps and issues that you must get round. […] He cannot fly, he does not have a double-jump, so he takes benefit of his GDA tech and costing the taxpayers all that cash by teleporting throughout the stage.”
The Mysterious Story Mode
Within the Invincible sequence on Amazon’s Prime Video service, Cecil is voiced by actor Walton Goggins. Whereas J.Ok. Simmons has been confirmed to reprise his position as Omni-Man within the sport, Quarter Up hesitates to verify anybody else within the forged. Nevertheless, voice appearing performs a outstanding position earlier than, throughout, and after the fights, as characters change quips, however it should, in idea, play a good greater position within the story mode, about which, so far, Quarter Up has not revealed many particulars.
Although we have recognized the sport could have a narrative mode for fairly a while, particulars have been terribly scarce, with the workforce declining to debate a lot about it throughout my preliminary interplay with them. That is why, after I spoke with the builders once more final week, I used it as a possibility to ask them for every thing they might inform me.
“The concept is that it is a standalone narrative set within the Invincible universe,” Rogers says. “We needed story mode to really feel like an episode of the present that you’d play; that was our strategy with it. I used to be fortunate sufficient to work with Helen Leigh, who’s one of many writers from the present, and an in depth collaboration with [co-creator] Robert Kirkman. […] We needed to create this kind of specialised, particular, standalone piece of story that additionally feels prefer it matches and is correct at dwelling within the universe.”
Rogers additionally hints that there is a very particular purpose tied to the story concerning why Cecil is playable. “I felt prefer it was a very good time to carry up story mode once more as a result of having the ability to carry him out of the ‘Man within the Ear’ and put him really on the battle line, it gave us much more to play with within the story,” he says. “I do not wish to spoil an excessive amount of as a result of we love our surprises within the Invincible IP, however there is a purpose why he is playable. In reality, each playable character that we have revealed up to now has a task of some kind within the story.”
Although Quarter Up stops in need of confirming what period of the Invincible present this playable “episode” generally known as Invincible VS takes place fairly but, the workforce did write with a particular period in thoughts, which is maybe finest mirrored within the character Invincible, Mark Grayson. “I believe that undoubtedly informs how we write a personality and what kind of features we carry, particularly to Mark, a personality that is evolving always throughout the IP,” Rogers says. “We needed to ensure that Mark felt like the correct Mark, and in the correct time and area. You’ll be able to see from the gameplay we have launched for him, he is obtained a few of that whimsy that you simply see in a youthful Mark area, however he is additionally obtained just a little extra of that seriousness that you simply typically see in Mark as he is rising as a superhero and studying.”
A New Hero (or Villain) Emerges
Earlier than I depart the decision, Willette goads Rogers to “inform him concerning the tremendous secret factor.” That tremendous secret factor is that Quarter Up labored in shut collaboration with Skybound Leisure to create a very new character for Invincible VS. “We’ll have a brand-new character who has not appeared wherever within the Invincible VS universe, in story and within the sport,” Rogers says with a smile. “Truthfully, it was so thrilling to have the ability to carry somebody model new and produce them into this, into the story, and into the universe. I am bursting to let you know extra, however I can be in a lot hassle.”
Although Rogers could not discuss far more concerning the unique character that can seem in Invincible VS, he does share that the workforce labored carefully with the workforce behind the opposite elements of the IP to make sure it looks like an genuine inclusion. Nevertheless, artwork director Dan Eder was capable of converse a bit extra concerning the shock inclusion of this character and the workforce’s general strategy to authenticity.
“Throughout the board, the creators are closely concerned on this undertaking, and I believe that is one of many privileges of being first-party [to Skybound],” Eder says. “We’re part of Skybound, so we have now the correct entry to them, and they’re tremendous hyped concerning the sport; they have been concerned from day one. A whole lot of the key choices, we brainstorm with them, with the brand new character, with a few of our present characters, or sure story components, and so we wish to get their first impression and first reactions, after which we go from there. Who is aware of these characters higher than the individuals who created them? We wish to ensure that it is an genuine expertise, but additionally that we’re capable of have our personal particular footprint relating to the sport and the way we present one other facet of the characters that you simply would not have been capable of see in different media.”
Invincible VS arrives on PS5, Xbox Sequence X/S, and PC in 2026. For a extra in-depth overview with hands-on impressions, try our deep-dive hands-on preview right here.
